Ray Bradbury about Russians

Fantasy and science-fiction author Ray Bradbury has died at the age of 91. Here is an interview with him in 2005.

Dibrov: When you hear the word “Russia”, what is the first thing that comes into your mind?Bradbury: “I think about a nation full of love and passion, the better days that are ahead of them. These days are not that far off and they didn’t start that long ago. Sooner or later Russians will start to love themselves and trust themselves, they are in control of the future. And they will control it with love, and not with war or dictatorship.

There will be a time when, eventually, they’ll come to know themselves and reveal that they have an unparalleled capacity for love. That’s what I think, I’ve been convinced of this by Russian literature and films. Put simply, Russians have yet become free within, they haven’t fully freed their energy, their passion. Therefore the forthcoming 100 years will show how the Russians free themselves from everything which internally bound them in the last 300. Russia will become a superpower only thanks to the Russians learning how to love themselves.”

Dibrov: What about thanks to our oil and gas?

Bradbury: “These things are important for survival, but they can’t replace life itself.”